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Indiana: plan ahead for ID card and DL renewal

Around 2.2 million state photo id cards and driver’s licenses are up for renewal this year in the state of Indiana. This is close to ten times more than 2011 when 260,000 documents were renewed. It’s not single year baby boom and baby boomers are not to blame this time. The spike is due to 2005 Read ID act and they way Indiana decided to implement it. Real ID act is a legislation passed by the Congress on the wave of after 9/11 law corrections to tighten up state identification documents processing. The law is more strict about the documentation to be presented when applying for state id documents as well storing the digital scanned images of the paperwork presented. The state plans is to be Real ID compliant in 2013. In order to enforce that date documents issued in 2007 and 2008 expire in 2012 instead of 2013 and 2014 respectively and hence the spike.
Indiana has been maintaining very high customer satisfaction record (over 90%) for years with short lines at local Bureau of Motor Vehicle locations. Agency robust and convenient website attracted a lot of customers to get their case processed online, as high 44% cases last year and over 70% of license plate renewals. The agency officials are confident that service will be smooth this year but advise not to wait for deadline with renewing documents expiring this year. There have been consumer complaints on scam artists trying to assist with renewal process for a fee. BMV warns customers that all business has to be done directly on the agency web page myBMV.com or at a branch office. Customers can also call BMV customer service at (888) 692-6841